Friday, January 3, 2014

The tractor tug Wynema Spirit arrived in late December at the Port of Grays Harbor, operated by Brusco Tug & Barge, the port’s ship-assist service provider.

The Wynema Spirit is a 78-foot by 31-foot ship-assist tug featuring twin Detroit Diesel 1,800 horsepower engines and Ulstein Z-drives. It is one of the more powerful tugboats of its size on the West Coast.

And in a first for Grays Harbor, the Wynema Spirit also has onboard fire-fighting capabilities. Its fire pump is capable of shooting 1,800 gallons of water per minute and up to 50 gallons of fire retardant per minute, according to Brusco.

The tug's azimuthing stern drives allow it to push or pull up to 101,000 pounds forward or backwards, a far greater bollard pull than the traditional tugs currently stationed on the harbor.

“We are extremely excited about the enhanced safety capabilities this brings to Grays Harbor,” port Executive Director Gary Nelson said in a prepared statement. “With vessel traffic projections expected to continue to increase, the Wynema Spirit’s features will be a benefit to our community and our customers.”

A second tractor tug, the Peter J, is being constructed for Brusco in Portland and is expected to join the Wynema Spirit on Grays Harbor in early spring 2014.

“The placement of the Wynema Spirit increases our capabilities on Grays Harbor to handle the larger vessels that are becoming the norm around the world,” vessel Capt. Kevin Campbell said.

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EDITORIAL

Pacific Maritime Magazine California Contributing Editor Karen Robes Meeks spent several years covering the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California for the Long Beach Press-Telegram and our sister publication Fishermen’s News.